Polymer detection and analysis systems and their associated methods have been used to detect and analyze polymers for many years. Generally, such systems involve a sample, such as a polymer, labeled with a known probe that will bind to the polymer in a particular manner. The polymer is placed in a detection zone of the system where an emitter, such as a laser, is used to excite the label on the probe bound to the polymer. The label then emits an emission signal that is seen by a detector in the system as a portion of a detection signal. The characteristics of the emission signal relative to the sample, the excitation signal, the surroundings, and/or other characteristics are then used by the system to analyze the polymer structure.
Detection systems often have difficulty distinguishing emission signals from noise and/or disturbances within the system. Such noise and/or disturbances may come from any number of sources. By way of example, the excitation signal, the detection zone, hardware of the system, the sample itself, impurities within the sample, the solution in which the sample resides, and other emission signals from the same or other polymers may be the source of such noise or disturbances to a particular emission signal. Noise in these systems may reduce the quality of the detection and analysis that can be accomplished.
Labeling
Many technologies relating to genomic sequencing and analysis require site-specific labeling of nucleic acids. Most site-specific labeling is carried out using nucleic acid based probes that hybridize to their complementary sequences within a target molecule (e.g., a nucleic acid). The specificity of these probes will vary, however, depending upon their length, their sequence, the hybridization conditions, and the like. Moreover, because these probes are usually labeled with a detectable label such as a fluorophore or a radioactive label, they are expensive to synthesize. The ability to increase the specificity of these probes, and at the same time, use less of them would make labeling reactions more efficient and less expensive to run.